THE RITUAL AFTER CHILDBIRTH Having entered with His people into a covenant, God gave them His holy house – the tabernacle of meeting or the temple – a holy place where the people gather together in the time of feasts, to proclaim their joy in the Holy God, dwelling among them; and where anyone who falls into sin or uncleanness, would take refuge to find in it a fountain of purity for himself. After speaking about the allowed and the forbidden kinds of food, He presented the statutes of purification, starting by the rites after childbirth. Although children are a divine gift, but, because the life of man has been corrupted by sin through the first disobedience, there was therefore need to purify the woman who gives birth; as there is need to purify whoever touches the dead. It is as though man, having been connected to uncleanness in his birth, as well as in his death, is in need of the new birth, and of death with the crucified Lord to live holy for Him. 1- The uncleanness of the woman after childbirth 1 -- 5 2- The ritual of purification 6 – 8 1- THE UNCLEANNESS OF THE WOMAN WHO GIVES BIRTH: According to the Mosaic law, the woman was counted unclean for seven days after giving birth to a male child, until the child is circumcised on the eighth day; and is counted as such for two weeks after giving birth to a female child, “as in the days of her customary impurity” (2); so called because of what goes together with the childbirth of labor and suffering…. She had to continue in the blood of her purification 33 days if she gives birth to a male child, and 66 days if she gives birth to a female child. When the days of her purification are complete, whether for a son or a daughter she shall bring to the priest a burnt offering, and a sin offering after 40 days if she gives birth to a son, or after 80 days if she gives birth to a daughter; to atone for the woman who gave birth. Why was the woman who gives birth counted as unclean according to the Mosaic law? (1) For she discharges blood after she gives birth; and according to the law “any man or woman has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean” (15); not on account of that the blood, in itself, is unclean, but for man to cease doing any work, and take care of his health until he is completely cured. According to the scholar origin, in this law, as it is in the law of the leper, God appears to His people as a Physician who cares for their healing, providing them with the necessary medication, not of herbs as the physicians used to do at the time, but with deep spiritual understanding of His divine words as a cure to their souls; saying: [Jesus, the Heavenly Physician comes to the congregation, namely to the church, to find several people laid down sick: He sees a woman who became unclean through childbirth; a leper cast outside the camp because of the uncleanness of his leprosy, seeking healing and purification. Being the Physician Word of God, Jesus provides a cure to the sick, not of herbs, but of the strong meaning of His words. … Yes indeed, we are used to look with slothfulness at the cure in the holy books and in the fields, not perceiving the activity of these texts, as though they are without value or benefit; But few are those who, knowing Christ as the Physician of the souls; gather from these books, read in the church, as well as from the fields and mountains, the herbs of salvation; and perceive the meaning of the words; so that their lukewarm souls would be healed by the inner juice of these great herbs].. (2) God has created man, and blessed him with the gift to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth (Genesis 1: 28); But man, by his disobedience, fell under punishment, and childbirth came to be accompanied with labor and pain, despite the fact of being a blessing from the Lord. That statute proclaiming the uncleanness of the woman who gives birth, probably came to draw the attention of those celebrating the newly born with joy, to the sin that crawled into us from our parents and grandparents; Hence the psalmist cries out, saying: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51: 5); And as Eliphaz the Temanite said to the righteous ‘Job’: “What is the man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?” (Job 15: 24); And as the apostle Paul clearly said: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5: 12); And also said, “By nature we were the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2: 3). (3) By that statute, God probably intended to confirm that the woman would not be counted pure until she offer a blood sacrifice, as a symbol of the need for the blood of the Lord Christ that purifies of every sin (1 John 1: 7); so that every newly born would enjoy belonging to the holy congregation in the Lord; the new Israel. (4) Intending to proclaim the holiness of His people, God commanded them to keep away from everything that may corrupt the purity of the soul and the body, so that the outer purification would be a mirror that reflects a true and sound image of the inner purity. Going back to the woman who gives birth to a male child; she will stay 40 days to complete the days of her purification; 7 days counted as unclean until the child is circumcised in the eighth day; then continue in the blood of her purification for 33 days. We have already discussed the circumcision of the male child in the eighth day in our interpretation of the book of Genesis (Chapter 17). For some peoples, circumcision is known for purification purpose. According to the scholar Origen, the Greek text in the Septuagint version states that: [If the woman gets seed in her womb, and gave birth…], to distinguish between a woman who gives birth through the human seed, and the Virgin St. Mary who conceived without human seed. The former would have to carry the burden of the law; whereas the Virgin came as an exception; conceived without human seed, and gave birth to Him, who consented to bow under the law, to redeem those who are under the law; according to the words of the apostle: “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4: 4, 5). It is not improper to call the Virgin St. Mary “a woman”; on account of the fact that, the way every male, when he becomes matures, is called “a man”, even if he is unmarried; every female would be counted as “a woman” when she reaches the age of maturity, even if she is unmarried; as when the servant of Abraham said to him: “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land, must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” (Genesis 24: 5). By ‘woman’ here he meant the virgin girl. Presenting to us an extreme commentary on this statute, the scholar Origen says that, proclaiming the uncleanness of the child born, whether male or female; it would not, therefore, be befitting of the saints to celebrate the day of their birth, but rather to curse it, saying: [We find no one among the saints celebrates the day of his birth, nor that of his son or daughter; but it is the sinners who do such a thing. In the old covenant the Pharaoh of Egypt celebrated the day of his birth (Genesis 40: 20); and in the new covenant Herod did the same (Mark 6: 21); and in both cases blood was shed. In the former case the head of the chief baker was cut off; and in the later case, the head of St. John he Baptist was cut off. The saints, on the other hand, filled with the Holy Spirit, curse the day of their birth. Jeremiah, a great prophet who was sanctified in his mother’s womb, and was consecrated a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1: 5) proclaimed: “Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father, saying, ‘a male child has been born to you’,; making him very glad. And let that man be like the cities which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent (Jeremiah 20: 14-16)…. We should not accept such an extreme view by the scholar Origen, revealing his bitterness toward the body, when the Lord Christ has borne our body, and blessed our nature in Him. As to quoting that the Christians in his time did not celebrate the day of their birth, it could be referred to their joy in the day of their baptism, considering it as a new spiritual birth. Getting back to the statute of the purification of the woman who gives birth, in the first period after birth (7 or 14 days), the woman is counted as unclean; whereas in the second period (33 or 66 days) she is counted as “continuing in the blood of her purification); during which, although whoever touches or serves her will not become unclean; yet she is not allowed to go into the house of the Lord.. Commenting on the first seven days after birth, during which the woman is counted as unclean, the scholar Origen says: [she stays separated from everything pure, until the 7 days, “as in her customary impurity”, have passed. On the eighth day, the male newly born will be circumcised, and she becomes purified… In that week we see a symbol of the present life; as in one week the world was created. It is as though, as long as we are in the body, we could not be completely pure, until the eighth day; namely until the day of the time to come]. We may say that the soul will be like a woman in her first week after birth; as long as she is bound to the world, she is unclean; But once she sets forth to the eighth day, namely to the eschatological attitude, and enjoys the heavenly life, she would be counted as clean, even while still in the world. It is as though the eighth day is not a time we anticipate, but is a life we live, or a heavenly state we are go through. Some of us may wonder why is the period after birth is doubled in case of the female newly born? (1) In our earlier study, we often saw the male to refer to the soul, and the female to refer to the body. If the soul together with the body are in need of spiritual purification (in the water of baptism), the body, needs a double effort after baptism; on account of the fact that it carries a burden that should be controlled and disciplined.. (2) This distinction does not imply a preference of the male over the female; on account of that the sacrifice offered for the male child is the same as that offered for the female. And as the apostle says, “the male and the female are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3: 28; Colossians 3: 11). The difference in the period may probably bears a bad feeling toward the seduction by the devil of our early mother Eve. 2- THE RITUAL OF PURIFICATION: “When the days of her purification are fulfilled (40 days for the son or 80 days for the daughter), she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering; …. And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons – one as burnt offering, and the other as a sin offering” (6 – 8) In this offering, it is to be noticed: (1) It is not enough for her to complete the days of her purification to be counted as clean; for time is unable to wipe the sin out, or to take away the uncleanness; but there is a perpetual need for the blood to purify of every sin. (2) The two offerings mix together:: the burnt offering, the subject of pleasure to the Lord, with the sin offering… As though in our purification by the precious blood, the joy and gladness mix with the forgiveness of sin. (3) The burnt offering of joy is offered by everyone according to his or her possibilities. It could be a lamb of the first year, or a bird. But the sin offering is the same for the rich and the poor; to make it easy for all to offer it. It is amazing that St. Mary in bearing the Lord Christ -- the rich who made Himself poor to make us rich (2 Corinthians 8: 9), presented the offering of the poor; by which, together with practicing the rite, she proclaimed her submission to the law, although she did not conceive through a human seed, but bore the Most Holy in her womb … bore Him, who through His own free will, submitted to the law, to redeem those who are under the law; Hence she did not refrain from fulfilling the law, but consummated it (Luke 2: 24).
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